Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Carved Ice And Cold Seats

I start today with a view of skaters on the Rideau Canal, looking west from the Bank Street Bridge.


The Lord Elgin Hotel, across from Confederation Park, is always involved in Winterlude as one of the festival's official hotels, and has ice sculptures out by its main entrance.


North of that entrance, the hotel also has an ice bench for sitting for photos, though that ice would be cold on your hindquarters, wouldn't it?


This is the ice sculpture I showed you yesterday in progress at City Hall. This is the finished product, done on behalf of the diplomatic mission for the European Union, marking two anniversaries this year- Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation and the 60th anniversary of the Treaty Of Rome, which resulted in the creation of the European Economic Community. The provincial courthouse and the Lord Elgin can be seen in the background. Tomorrow we're going across the street and starting to look at what was going on in Confederation Park.

34 comments:

  1. Beautiful ice sculptures, William, and I love the bench. Have you ever been to the Ice Hotel here in Quebec? :)

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  2. I always enjoy seeing the ice sculpture every year. Nice examples!

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  3. Very artistic ice sculptures, well done.

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  4. yay winterlude! i love the bear and the last one!

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  5. I always love ice sculpture time William, here and yesterday..fabulous! The European union sculpture above is excellent. The thing that fascinates me the most is how cold it must be to stop these marvelous creations from melting! Incroyable!

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  6. William, fabulous captures! Ice sculptures are something I won't see in the Tennessee Valley unless it's at a wedding. lol This would be so amazing to see first hand, though. Very cool! Thanks for sharing and please feel free to link up with my not-so Wordless Wednesday hop. Have a fototastic day!

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  7. Wonderful sculptures! The bench is great.

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  8. I love these ice sculptures, William, but I think I've already said it.

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  9. @Linda: I haven't, but I should.

    @Tomas: thanks!

    @Orvokki: and more to come.

    @Halcyon: from what I have seen thus far it has been quite a year.

    @Marianne: and yet more to come!

    @Tanya: thank you!

    @Grace: it has been consistently cold lately.

    @Cathy: ah, it's not so wordless? I'll have a look today.

    @Marleen: thanks!

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  10. "Bear & Fish" that's a good combination to start the ice sculptures with ... :-)

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  11. Not only would sitting on that bench be cold, it would leave your backside wet in the cold air. Double trouble!

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  12. Most impressive! Yes, it is torture to sit on cold. After 30 years in Hawaii I had forgotten! Still loving N. Calif tho.....

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  13. That canal would be a perfect place to skate! And I love, love, love those ice sculptures ... the fish is especially good, so good I can bearly stand it! :)

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  14. Sitting on ice would cool your butt off very quickly. It seems to me that ice sculpture gets better every year.

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  15. @Karl: I enjoy getting to see them through the festival. One of the nice things about living here is getting to be here throughout, and even then you miss things. The festival's first weekend featured a winter triathlon that I always seem to miss out around Dow's Lake. There are a couple of events happening this weekend and next weekend there that I have to take in.

    @Jan: a very good combination!

    @Sharon: it could! I haven't sat on it, but I should give it a go!

    @Cloudia: ah, but the cold is a good thing.

    @Lowell: lots more ice sculptures to come.

    @Red: this year's sculptures look really good!

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  16. Nice sculptures! That would definitely be a cold seat!

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  17. The ice sculptures are beautiful. The fish is my favorite. The artists are so talented and creative. I would spend a lot of time just watching them carve their creations.

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  18. They are so wonderful, William!

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  19. @Beth: thanks!

    @Whisk: they are.

    @Norma: I agree.

    @Pamela: I would think so!

    @Bill: I did spend time watching some of them at work, early on in the process of their bigger sculptures. I like to photograph some stage of the process.

    @RedPat: they are indeed.

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  20. The fish is amazingly detailed. At least they might last a while in your low temperatures.

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  21. Gosh! Rather reassuring to see that it's cold enough somewhere for these ice sculptures. It was in the upper 60s Fahrenheit here today.

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  22. I just love seeing the skaters on the canal! That fish sculpture is gorgeous. So much detail.

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  23. The sculptures are fantastic--as usual.

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  24. At this time of year, I look forward to seeing the ice carvings and of course, the activity on the Rideau Canal.

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  25. I love those sculptures at the Lord Elgin Hotel. They're beautiful. I probably couldn't resist a photo on that bench but I certainly wouldn't linger!

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  26. Love the design of the sign for winterlude and the detail in that creative fish is amazing.

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  27. @Jenny: they do!

    @Revrunner: today we have light snow, and the temperature is due to drop sharply later in the day.

    @Lois: I'll have the Canal skaters for this year coming up in a post in coming days. I'm sure I'll have another post or two in my Winterlude series beyond that.

    @Mari: that they are.

    @Beatrice: there is a lot going on.

    @Kay: they did the bench again this year. I took selfies.

    @Gemma: so did I.

    @Jennifer: you're welcome.

    @Norma: so did I.

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